I had a GREAT day of fishing today but have a few questions for you more experienced guys.

1. I enjoy watching the bass jump as I'm reeling them in, but am quickly realizing that this not a good thing. I lost a MONSTER today when he jumped and spit my lure out. How do you keep them from jumping?

2. When you're seeing all of the hits on the top of the water, what do you think this is? A few times during the day I would notice hits all over the pond, little ripples that would leave me to beleive fish were hitting the top...but I also notice I don't get any hits at this time, ideas?

3. Whenever you notice a fish actually jump along the shore....do you guys immediately head in that area and start casting or do you find that doing that is usually fruitless?

4. Baitfish - I noticed a school of baitfish moving around the pond today, I mean a massive school that would move all around the pond. So I started following them in boat with the trolling moter and casting right beyond them and dragging thru them.....NOTHING! Wouldn't you think you would get all kinds of hits there?

5. Berkley worms - I LOVE the hits I get with the Berkley worms, but they seem to have a tough skin for the hook to penetrate. The Strike King worms are SO much softer and the hook is easier to set thru them, does anybody else find that? Do you guys have the point of the hook JUST penetrating the worm when you T rig them or how do you get more efficient hook sets?

Welcome to the forum!

You ask some good questions.

1. To keep them from jumping, lower your rod tip. You can even stick the rod tip in the water.

2. My guess would be you were seeing bluegill hitting the surface.

3. It is always worth a cast when you see one jump-you never know unless you give it a try.

4. They may not have been feeding on the shad, although I'm sure they were in the area. In a case like that I try to match the hatch-a small chrome blue back lipless crankbait like a Rat-L-Trap can be deadly. I pull it not only through the school, but below it as well. One tactic that has worked well for me is pull it into the school, then stop it and let it fall towards the bottom like a wounded fish.

5. If it is a tough worm I punch the point of the hook all the way through the bait then pull it back in the bait-makes for a better hookset with the pre-cut channel. For better hookset on a worm I use braided line-real sensitive and no stretch.

1. You skull drag them. lol After you set the hook put your rod in the water and steady reel simi fast.(with lures that have a single hook) This will open up the bass's mouth and it will fill with water and will not fight or jump. When I frog fish I do the same thing but I want the bass and weeds and all. The weeds cover the bass's eyes and mouth and don't fight much make sure your using braid. Play the fish out with the rod in the water works. Baby the bass when its hooked will keep it from jumping some. Sometimes there is nothing you can do to prevent them from jumping. When a bass is in flight and shakes its head the weight of the lure swings free and becomes dislodged. Most of the time when you loose a fish because it jumped is because the bass had some slack line that let the lure swing free enough when he shook its head to be able to throw the bait.

2. It could be baitfish or bluegills feeding on bugs.

3. If I notice they are jumping more than once kinda like they are dive bombing bait on a small patch of grass. I would move and take advantage of it. If its just one slash at some baitfish and nothing else I wouldn't rush right over to capitalize on it. If it was within casting range I would try for it.

4. Nope. If you have a group of baitfish being hammered then I would spend some time on them but baitfish just swimming around can be a waste of time. If the bait is all balled up and you see it break the surface then fish them but if its a loose school pass them up. When baitfish get balled up they do this because a bass or many bass are looking to eat and its kinda a defense against them. Its kinda a safety in numbers and its hard for a bass to pick out just one. If they are in a loose school then there is no danger and they feel safe.

5. Use a Texas exposed hook. This way the whole hook is through the worm and you are only piercing the little bit of worm that you put the tip of your hook back into the worm to still make it weedless.

Please try to attend a Bassmaster University in your area.

The pros can answer all your questions and they show you how to rig and fish different baits.

The course is well worth the money.

And don't forget to get some Super Glue to glue your worms back together after a few strikes.

It's already been said,but keep the rod tip at or even below water's surface.This will keep his head down and prevent jumping.As for worm problems, I always bring my wormhook through the worm and just stick the point barely under the skin of the worm.This solves the problem for me.

ALL GREAT QUESTIONS!

ALL GREAT ANSWERS!

But just to add a couple sidenotes to the answers already given.

A.)When bait is balled up, you want to target the zone just under them. THis is where the weaker fish will be getting picked off first. The bass will feed on that pod of fish in many ways from picking at the edges to thrashing right through it but the sick, slow,injured baitfish will always fall to the bottom of the pod and then eventually right out of the pod where they become dinner for Larry largemouth. So I like to target the bottom of the baitfish school with rat-l-traps,jerkbaits,etc. Just somthing else to try.

B.)THIS IS bassmaster university as far as I would be concerned. Only difference is the teacher to student ratio. 2500 teachers per student,....BEAT THAT!

GOOD LUCK AND CATCH 'EM UP!

I had a GREAT day of fishing today but have a few questions for you more experienced guys.

1. I enjoy watching the bass jump as I'm reeling them in, but am quickly realizing that this not a good thing. I lost a MONSTER today when he jumped and spit my lure out. How do you keep them from jumping?

I don't know what exactly you were using, but I would be more worried about getting a good hookset.  If you were using a single hook, on a soft plastic, or something of that nature, then, the hookset needs to be sure and true.  I have only lost a handful of fish with a single hook, and that was because I did not get a decent hookset on them.  If you are using a bait with treble hooks, such as a jerkbait or a crankbait, then, losing fish is going to be part of the game.  As it was said, keep the rod tip low, even underwater.  Another thing that I find very helpful is to break the fish's will.  That is, when he makes a run a certain way, counteract that run by pulling in the opposite direction.  This tires the fish out a lot sooner, in my opinion, and will get a few extra fish in your boat.

2. When you're seeing all of the hits on the top of the water, what do you think this is? A few times during the day I would notice hits all over the pond, little ripples that would leave me to beleive fish were hitting the top...but I also notice I don't get any hits at this time, ideas?

Although some have said that it is shad or bluegills hitting the surface of the water, which is may very well be, I have also noticed that during the summer, bugs will use ponds as sources of water.  You will see some bugs land on the surface and make a decent sized ripple, which closely immulates the ripple that a baitfish or gill can make.  Another idea, and I have had this happen quite a few times, is that if there are showers forecasted for your area, that they will be seen and felt over water, but on land, you won't feel anything.  I have had this happen on more than one occasion.

3. Whenever you notice a fish actually jump along the shore....do you guys immediately head in that area and start casting or do you find that doing that is usually fruitless?

It honestly depends on how far I am away from the area in which the fish jumps.  If I am a cast-length, or a little farther from it, I will make a few casts to that area.  Might get the fish, might not.  If I am on the opposite bank, and I hear a fish blow up on the other side, I know for a fact, unless it's a bedding fish, that by the time that I get over there, the fish will have vacated the area, and I will just be casting and wondering what it was.  During the time of the year, carp are spawning.  You will see a lot more of them during the mid-summer to late fall months, and they will be wallowing in the shallows, doing their thing.  I have found that more times than not, what I thought was a bass was indeed a carp, being scared off the bank by something.

4. Baitfish - I noticed a school of baitfish moving around the pond today, I mean a massive school that would move all around the pond. So I started following them in boat with the trolling moter and casting right beyond them and dragging thru them.....NOTHING! Wouldn't you think you would get all kinds of hits there?

First off, it depends on the temperature of the water.  Bass, in higher temperature water, will not move very far to chase bait.  So, that might be one reason that you did not get a bite.  However, if the temps are within reason, you might not have been fishing deep enough.  My opinion would be to fish a small spinnerbait or in-line spinner along the bottom and side edges of the baitfish, and once you get the area in which they are located, KILL the lure.  Let it fall, and count down to about 6-7, depending on the dept of the water, and then, return to your normal retrieve.  More times than not, the bass will think that the falling lure is a dying or dead baitfish, and will inhale in while it's falling.  Keep an eye on your line, as you may only see a twitch with inactive fish, but you might also see the line jump with an active fish.

5. Berkley worms - I LOVE the hits I get with the Berkley worms, but they seem to have a tough skin for the hook to penetrate. The Strike King worms are SO much softer and the hook is easier to set thru them, does anybody else find that? Do you guys have the point of the hook JUST penetrating the worm when you T rig them or how do you get more efficient hook sets?

First off, I do not recommend the off-set shank hooks, unless you are using them on a drop-shot.  I have found they are the most effective on these types of rigs.  With that being said, for all my soft plastics, other than the DS, I will use a EWG (Extra Wide Gap) hook from Gamakatsu.  Depending on the size and thickness of your lure will dictate the size of the hook.  I use 2/0 more than anything, but for tubes, using a #1 or a 1/0 might be in order, or for larger lures, from 7-12 inches, a 6/0 might be in order.  Once you match the right size hook to the plastic that you are using, begin to rig the plastic in a weedless method.  Once you have the "r" bend section of the hook positioned in the head of the bait, I take the plastic, and bend it so that when I penetrate the bait, the bait will lay flush against the hookpoint area of the lure.  Once that is completed, depending on the cover I am fishing, I will "skin" hook the point of the hook into the bait.  That is just taking the point of the hook, and inserting it into the bait, very shallowly.  That will allow for an excellent hookset.  Also, don't be afraid of using a hard hookset.  You want to make sure that it is solid and won't come undone.

Wow, thanks for all the tips guys! After talking to a few more friends, I think one of my problems is that I'm using too weak of a rod. I have a lt/med and I think I'm gonna move to a med/heavy.

I honestly feel I learned something from you guy's answers and will try all that stuff!

I was fishing this small lake the other morning and had taken my little two man boat around to this SUPER structured area and was just happen to be looking down to this point where the lake "ends" if you will, (it actually drains off to a smaller area), but I was wondering if it was gonna be worth my time to oar thru the structure and get to this SUPER fishy looking spot because it appeared to be SUPER shallow and it was really hot! Well, as I was looking, an 8 to 10 pd bass jumped right then in the reeds and cattails! It was awesome because, you know how it is, you're NEVER looking the right way when one just jumps. So I went down and casted there and beleive I hooked it, but didn't get it in.

NWGABASSMASTER: Trying to get a better understanding of what you're talking about. Are you saying you just barely put the point of the hook into the worm? Is that so it will easily come out when the fish strikes? Anybody else use this method?

all of us.

Wow, now I feel al little stupid. I thought the idea was to get it to penetrate thru to the other side! So you want it to actually just come out of where you have it stuck into and hook the bass, huh? I've been fishing for years and that's the first time I heard that, but then again, I've lost alot of bigguns, so I'll sure try that. Thanks again, guys!

Yeah, you just wanna leave it so that the hook will easily come through the skin on that side of the bait.    I sent you an e-mail.  

A lot of guys rig their baits "Texposed"-this is what it looks like:

I like to back it back in the plastic, but if you aren't fishing an area where you will get hung up it helps with the hookset.  If I need it more weedless I back the point back into the plastic where it has a pre-cut channel to go through on the hookset.

How is that picture making the plastic weedless when the hook is exposed?  i always left the hook point in the plastic bur then agan i am really new to useing plastic..  have only used it 2 times this summer untill i go out tonight

It's not weedless.  If you are fishing open cover, it's ok to do that, but if you are wanting to fish it in the cover, you will get hung.

All you do is place the hook point back into the plastic.

talkin about great questions...  you must have jotted them down as u were fishin.

u wont find anywhere else like this place.  there are articles at the top as well called "fishing articles", u might try "For Beginning Anglers" first.

I'd like to thank everybody for their helpful replies and for all the info and lessons I've learned, especially NWbassmaster for helping me not lose so many fish by showing me the proper way to hook the worms without treating me like an idiot! I have caught WAY more fish with the proper set up!

Here are some pics of me and my son fishing on Labor Day.

And a video as well!

http://www.shaggybrotherspaintball.com/MiscImages/9-5vida.mpg

My son caught this one immediately after reeling one all the way in just get broke off right at the boat. The NEXT cast produced this one, talk about luck!

My Jimmy Houston imitation! (Note the cheesy sunglasses. Those are "forgot mine at home, gas station, last minute" sunglasses.....normally not one for the flame look! But if they help me catch fish, I'll wear them!)

Am I the only moron that weighs them? Does it hack anybody else off when you watch Bill Dance throw those Monsters back in without weighing them first? lol

One of the biggest thing's I've learned, besides the proper way to hook a plastic worm, is the difference a Med/Hvy rod makes over a Lt/Med! It's a HUGE difference. I set the hook SO much better now and get the fish in alot better. I'll give you that the fight might be more fun, more exciting with a smaller rod, but I catch more fish with the heavier rod.

Good luck fishing friends, and thanx again for all your help. If you're ever in the Oklahoma City area, hollar at me, I'll show you some good fishing holes!